Examining Core Instruction in an RTI Model: Literacy Kay Stahl [email protected]

Examining Core Instruction in an RTI Model: Literacy

Kay Stahl

[email protected]

www.nysrti.org/

Who are they? Who doesn’t belong?

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Building A Roadmap

School-wide DifferentiatedStudy GroupsConferences

Webinars

Out of ClassReadingTalking

Planning

In ClassCoachingObservingReflection

Professional Development Instruction

Inform Instruction EvaluateStudent AchievementStudent Growth Rates

EvaluateInstruction

Assessment and Evaluation

Literacy

Let’s Review What We Know

• Yes, we are all sick of talking about the NRP.• Yes, we all know the 5 pillars and the “explicit,

systematic” jargon.• Therefore, it makes a good starting point. • It has been 9 years…so what have we forgotten? Or

where have we drifted and called it the NRP anyway?• We will need our own School Reading Panel to

investigate the research on: writing, hypertext and new literacies, and motivation.

Literacy: True or False

The most effective PA training programs require

less than 20 hours. Phonics instruction is only marginally effective for disabled readers in grades 4 and above.

Phonics instruction must be matched with a child’s

developmental indicators.Giving students extended time to read materials at their level increases achievement in

comprehension. KWL is effective for improving the comprehension of informational texts.

True or False

Repeated reading is an effective strategy for increasing fluency.

Writing and reading require equal amounts of instructional time in balanced literacy.

Children must have more than a single exposure to learn a new vocabulary word.

Direct instruction improves comprehension.

Fluency scores predict comprehension.

National Reading Panel:Phonemic Awareness Findings

• Many programs were effective.• Lasting benefits depend on the effectiveness

of the comprehensive literacy program. • Programs should present material in an

interesting, engaging way that maintains student attention.

• Effect sizes were largest when training lasted less than 20 hours.

National Reading Panel:Phonemic Awareness Findings

• PA training is effective in helping children manipulate sounds in words.

• PA helps all types of children learn to read words and pseudowords. (SES, K, 1, disabled readers in 2-6)

• PA helps K, 1 children (all SES) learn to spell. • PA training did NOT help disabled readers

learn to spell.

Implications for PA Instruction

Instruction is most effective:• when based on pretests to determine an

appropriate match with development. • in small developmentally based groups.• when conducted in conjunction with letter

work. • when involving fewer manipulations (1-2)

rather than more manipulations.

National Reading Panel:Phonics Findings

• “Phonics should not become the dominant component in a reading program,neither in the amount of time devoted to it nor in the significance attached.” (2-137)

• Explicit, systematic phonics instruction is essential.


“There was one group for whom phonics instruction

failed to exert a statistically significant impact on the

students’ growth in reading. This occurred in the eight

comparisons involving low achievers in 2nd through 6th

grades (d = 0.15). Although smaller, the effect size for

low achievers did not differ significantly from the effect

size of disabled readers (d = 0.32).” (NRP, 2-117)


• Overall, phonics instruction had a significant effect on reading achievement.

• Most (2/3) of the effect sizes involved measures of decoding or word recognition

• Effects were significant, but smaller, on measures of comprehension and oral reading.

• Absence of effects on spelling for students over grade 1.


• The effects of different types of phonics programs (synthetic phonics, programs which emphasized phonograms, miscellaneous) did not differ from each other.

• This suggests that there is no one right method of teaching phonics, but that many methods of teaching children to decode are effective.


• Phonics instruction is more effective in kindergarten and first grade than in grades 2-6.

• Phonics instruction meets a developmental need.

• It is preferable to assess needs and match instruction to those needs. (2-136)

What the report does not say

• It does not support any particular phonics program.

• It does not talk about “decodable text.”

• It does not support intensive phonics instruction.

• It does not talk about the content of a phonics program.

The report does not support “extreme” phonics instruction

• An hour a day or more on phonics alone. • Focus on rules and terminology.• Focus on isolated words.• No extension into connected text, or use of highly

contrived text.

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Fluency

• What is your definition of reading fluency?

Fluency

“Fluent reading is when a reader’s recognition of words in context is so transparent that readers are able to move from the text to comprehension without conscious attention to words.” (Stahl & Hiebert, 2005, p. 164).

Fluency

The ability to decode and comprehend at the same time.

(Samuels, 2006)

What makes up the ability to read fluently?

• Accuracy of decoding• Automaticity of word recognition• Appropriate use of prosodic features

such as: – stress– pitch– phrasing– expression

Measuring Fluency

• Prosody ratings– NAEP– DRA

• Words Correct Per Minute– DIBELS– IRI’s (timed)– Commercial

packages

National Reading Panel:Fluency Findings

• Guided oral reading is effective in improving reading fluency and overall achievement.

• Guided oral reading is a grab bag including a lot of different procedures including repeated reading, assisted reading, impress reading.

• Not all approaches are going to be equally effective in every situation.

National Reading Panel:Fluency Findings

Encouraging children to read on their own does not seem to improve fluency or general reading achievement.

• This includes DEAR, SSR, Accelerated Reader.

• This has been an area of controversy.

• Often children do not choose to read material of adequate challenge.

Development of Fluency

• Repeated Reading

• Assisted Reading

• Wide Reading

Repeated Reading Terminology

Repeated Reading: Any number of techniques that result in children reading the same text more than once.

Assisted Reading: Teacher and student read passage together, repeatedly, until desired level of fluency is achieved.

Wide Reading

• The most important thing we can do to improve children’s reading achievement is to have them read as much connected text at their instructional level as possible.

• It is important that children read challenging (but not too challenging) material.

Rasinski’s 6 principles

• Modeling• Direct instruction and

feedback• Support or assistance• Practice with phrasing• Repetition• Use of easy and appropriate

text for independent practice • Use of challenging text with

scaffolding (Stahl)

Texts in Tier 1:Turn Up the Volume

• Complex texts consist of well-developed plots with universal themes or informational texts with conceptual density and rich vocabulary.

• Direct instruction, modeling and scaffolding are essential to the meaning-making process due to the complexity of ideas presented in texts.

• Research indicates that complex text has a positive affect on fluency (including prosody) and comprehension. (Schwanenflugel et al., 2008; K. Stahl, 2009).

Text: Turn Up The Volume

• Complex text provides the opportunity for comprehension strategy instruction, high level discussion, vocabulary development, research projects.

• Grade level texts expose struggling readers to more words and richer vocabulary than little books.

• Use the ZPD as a guide.

The Biggie: No Round Robin Reading

Unrehearsed sight reading, with turn-taking

(Rasinski, 2006)

• Modern RRR: – Popcorn reading– Names on popsicle

sticks– Guerilla/pitch reading– Content reading: call

only on good readers to read text to class

Research-Validated: Younger Readers

• Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction (2nd graders) - 13 publications/robust– Stahl & Heubach, 2005– Schwanenflugel et al., 2008– Kuhn & Schwanenflugel, 2008

• Fluency Development Lesson (Rasinski & Padak, 1998)

• Readers’ Theater (Rasinski)

Fluency for Older Readers

• Research-validated– Paired Reading Technique (Topping, 1987)*This is NOT partner reading!!!!

• Research-based– Radio reading (Rasinski)– Repeated reading of speeches

See www.timrasinski.com for more ideas.

http://www.timrasinski.com/

Let’s Shift Gears

• Constrained abilities are fairly linear and with instruction children develop mastery within a few years.

• Unconstrained abilities are multidimensional, incremental, context dependent and develop across a lifetime.

Paris, S. (2005). Reinterpreting the development of reading skills. Reading Research Quarterly,40, 184-202.

PhonemicAwareness

Fluency

Phonics

Vocabulary

Comprehension

Constrained Unconstrained

Continuum: Constrained to Unconstrained Abilities

(Paris, 2005)

Important DifferencesShanahan (2009)

Constrained

Skills

Automatic

Over-learning

Immediate

Simple/single step

Certainty of success

Accuracy

Interval training

Unconstrained

Strategies

Intentional

Metacognitive

Reflective

Complex/multi-step

Probability of success

Approximation

Massed practice

Stop, Think, Write, and Talk

• How does this theory affirm or contradict your beliefs?

• How is this different than you have thought about the pillars?

• How does this confirm your current instructional choices? Testing choices?

• How are you thinking differently about your choices?

Vocabulary

Vocabulary

• Oral vocabulary refers to words we know in listening and speaking.

• Reading vocabulary refers to words we recognize or use to read or write in print.

(NRP, 2000)

National Reading Panel:Vocabulary Findings

• Vocabulary is related to comprehension.

• More recent research provides evidence that it also influences word recognition (McFalls, Schwanenflugel, S. Stahl, 1996) and fluency (Hudson, Pullen, Lane and Torgeson (2009).

National Reading Panel:Vocabulary Findings

• Most studies in NRP were conducted in grades 3-6, followed by Pre-K and K.

• Instruction makes a difference in vocabulary learning. • Standardized assessments only provide global

baseline…view results tentatively.• Teacher-generated assessments that match

instruction are recommended. It is critical to use more than a single measure.

National Reading Panel:Vocabulary Findings-Instruction

• Words instructed should be words that are useful in many contexts.

• A large portion of vocabulary items should be derived from content areas.

*CREDE and others have found that sheltered instruction within disciplinary units is effective for ELLs.

*Themes provide cohesiveness and repeated exposures.


• Direct Instruction– Combine definitions and contextualized

examples– Rich, extended instruction before and after

reading – Include instruction on affixes and

derivations at developmentally appropriate points


• Repetition and Multiple Exposures– Repetitions in same

setting– Multiple exposures in

multiple contexts


• Task Restructuring– Group size-dyads, small groups– Explicit definition of tasks, clarifying– Manipulating materials

• Active Engagement– Discussion by children– Active use of words in reading, writing,

talking, listening


• Implicit Learning– Repetition– Rich Content

• Computer technology– Engagement– Restructuring tasks

Putting It All Together

• Experts estimate that students learn 2000-3000 words/year of reading vocabulary - too many to teach (Nagy, Anderson, & Herman, 1987).

• Read-alouds and shared reading are important sources of vocabulary for the youngest and poorest readers!!!

Putting It All Together

• Insisting on student engagement– Small discussion groups– Research projects– Eliminating isolated, mundane vocabulary work

• Wide Reading (Hmmm, sounds familiar)– Literature– Disciplinary

• Developing an evidence-based assessment system to document vocabulary growth

Research-Validated Instructional Techniques

• Text Talk (Beck & McKeown, 2003; 2007)

• Possible Sentences (S. Stahl & Kapinus, 1991)

• Teaching Morphemic and Contextual Analysis (Baumann et al., 2002; 2003)

Research-Validated Vocabulary Assessments

• Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (Wesche & Paribakht, 1996)

• Vocabulary Recognition Task (K. Stahl, 2008)• Vocabulary Assessment Magazine (Bravo,

Cervetti, Pearson & Hiebert, 2006)• See Blachowicz & Fisher (2005) for research-

based ideas and activities

Comprehension

• The reason for reading• Everything else is in its

service• Multidimensional• Context dependent• Reader constructed• Transactional

National Reading Panel:Comprehension Findings

• Text comprehension is improved by the following 7 strategies:– Monitoring comprehension– Answering questions– Generating questions– Summarization– Multiple strategy routines– Using graphic and semantic organizers– Cooperative learning

National Reading Panel:Comprehension Findings

• Also useful: – Visualization– Story Structure

Clarification on NRP Recommendations

• Cooperative learning is a teaching context, not a cognitive strategy.

• The use of graphic organizers is a teaching strategy that has a research base. They are useful tools for teaching comprehension strategies, such as text structure and summarization.


• Summarization has been an effective strategy for older students, but there are fewer studies on the best way to teach summarization to novice readers or it’s value.


• Monitoring-Young children can begin to be accountable for the semantic, syntactic, pragmatic and graphic acceptability of their independent text reading. Higher levels of monitoring will require prompting and teacher scaffolding.


• Utilizing story structure helps students appreciate, understand and remember stories.

• There currently is no evidence on the best way to use the text structure of informational texts to enhance the comprehension of young readers.

NRP Studies

• It is important to note that most of the studies included by the NRP were in the intermediate grades

• The exclusion of qualitative and non-experimental studies is probably more limiting for comprehension than for the constrained abilities.

NRP Studies Grade level

Imagery Mon PK ?

Ans?

GenNarr

Struc

Sum

2 1 3 1-1,

2-20 0 0 0

3 2 6 1 2 3 2 1

4 2 8 6 3 6 8 1

5 1 5 2 3 4 7 4

6-9 7-1

8-16 6-2

9-1

6-1

8-16-9

18

6-2 9

NRP StudiesGrade level

Multiple Strategies

Graphic Organizers

Cooperative

Learning

2 1-2

2-21 0

3 7 1 2

4 9 5 2

5 6 4 2

6-9 6-5, 7-4, 8-1 6-6

7-2

8-2

6-2

Instructional Strategies with a Strong Research Base in the Primary Grades

(K. Stahl, 2004)

• Narrative story structure (story maps, retellings)

• Teacher-generated questions (high level questions; QAR)

• Reciprocal Teaching• Transactional

Strategy Instruction

• Targeted activation of prior knowledge (Text Talk)

• Prediction (Literature Web, DR-TA)

• Visual Imagery Training • Use of videos to

bootstrap instruction

Widely Practiced, No Research Base

• KWL• Picture Walk• Traditional “main

idea” Instruction• 50/50

reading/writing

• Apply at your own peril.

Effective instruction incorporates:

• Explicit strategy instruction leading to flexible use of multiple strategies

• Engaging content• Collaborative learning• Graphic organizers• Writing in response to text• High level questioning/discussion• Coaching

Strategy Instruction Should Teach:

• Declarative Knowledge• Procedural Knowledge• Conditional Knowledge

(Duffy, 1993; Paris, Lipson & Wixson, 1983)

Gradual Release of Responsibility(Gallagher & Pearson, 1983)

• Direct Explanation• Modeling• Guided Practice• Application

Comprehension Instruction During Guided Reading of Instructional Level Texts

“Guided Reading is a context in which a teacher supports each reader’s development of effective strategies for processing novel texts at increasingly challenging levels of difficulty.”(Fountas & Pinnell, 1996, p. 2)

Gradient Texts

• The use of text that decreases in predictability as children increase their knowledge of the alphabetic system is a successful way of meeting DECODING challenges.

Advantages of Gradient Texts

• Provide opportunities for students to read meaningful text while learning more about the alphabetic system

• Gradual increase in difficulty enables reading fluency to be maintained

• Allows for novice readers to orchestrate decoding and reading for meaning

• Student accountability • Context for coaching• It should not be the primary text used for

comprehension instruction.

Disadvantages of Gradient Text • Lack of complexity • Moderate adherence to story

grammar• Missing rich vocabulary• Lack the fodder for

comprehension strategy instruction, extensions in research and critical literacy

• Can’t provide a community experience

Comprehension Staples with Robust Empirical Validation

• Directed Reading - Thinking Activity(Stauffer, 1969; K. Stahl, 2008)

• Reciprocal Teaching (Palincsar, 1988, 1991; Coley et al., 1993)

• Question Answer Relationships(Raphael,1984; 1986)

• Transactional Strategy Instruction (Schuder, 1993)

More Contemporary Ways to View Comprehension

• Engagement and high level thinking are essential elements of effective comprehension instruction. – Rosenshine and Meister, 1994– Beck, McKeown, & Blake, 2009– Studies of schools that beat the odds and high

outcome teachers: Taylor et al., 2000

Empirical Evidence on Contemporary Views of

Comprehension• Conversations contribute to higher

level thinking. – Collaborative Reasoning (R. C. Anderson)– Instructional Conversations (Saunders

and Goldenberg, 1999)– Synthesis Approach (K. Stahl, 2009;

Tayor et al., 2006)

Empirical Evidence on Contemporary Views of Comprehension

• Curriculum Cohesiveness, Not Compartmentalization: Why is Content Instruction Separate? – Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction

(J. Guthrie-Multiple Studies, Robust)– www.seedsofscience.org/papers– http://crede.berkeley.edu

Empirical Evidence on Contemporary Views of

Comprehension

• Reading multiple texts on a topic • Reading comprehension strategies for

Internet and hypertext• Reading disciplinary and informational

texts (See Afflerbach & Cho, 2009)

Revisit Your T/F Exercise

Work with a partner.• Go through each item and discuss your

answers• What aspects of your classroom literacy

program are strengths? • What aspects of your classroom literacy

program need deeper exploration and possible revision?

Building A Roadmap

School-wide DifferentiatedStudy GroupsConferences

Webinars

Out of ClassReadingTalking

Planning

In ClassCoachingObservingReflection

Professional Development Instruction

Inform Instruction EvaluateStudent AchievementStudent Growth Rates

EvaluateInstruction

Assessment and Evaluation

Literacy

Documents

Examining Core Instruction in an RTI Model: Literacy Kay Stahl [email protected]